Youth Soccer Tournament Recap on Surf Cup
The first weekend of the 36th annual San Diego Surf Cup comes to a close as Surf SC’s older teams performed well in the prestigious annual youth soccer tournament. With 374 boys teams and 434 girls squads from twenty-three different state associations, Canada and Mexico, players came from all over the country to play soccer against the Best of the Best.
Youth Soccer News: The 36th annual Surf Cup Tournament concluded its first weekend of play and crowned the Best of the Best from the U15 to U19 age groups. With early youth soccer matches starting at 7:30 AM and players showing up an hour before game time, the San Diego Polo Club on Via de la Valle in Del Mar, California and the SoCal Sports Complex in Oceanside, California were alive with soccer players, coaches and families. More than 450 college coaches attended the tournament to scout and recruit players.
Bigger than ever, this year’s Surf Cup had over 100 more teams competing than in year’s past. Next weekend, the U10 to U14 youth soccer age groups will compete along with the debut of USSDA Academy boys’ U12 and U14 teams.
Surf SC teams notably represented the prestigious club in the annual San Diego Surf Cup bringing home four trophies during the first weekend of action. Surf’s 2000 and 1999/98 ECNL teams brought home consecutive titles, while Surf Academy Select 1999 and Surf Academy 2001 concluded the weekend as champions following an eventful weekend in San Diego.
Coach Mark Spooner’s Surf SC 1999/98 ECNL team defended their Surf Cup title for the third consecutive year as the club went undefeated during the tournament. The girls recorded a 2-0 victory over Mustang SC from Northern California to claim an impressive three-peat victory.
“I couldn’t be happier for the girls; the majority of our roster have come through the Surf SC system and to sign off on their last Surf Cup with not only a win but a three peat was a great ending,” said Spooner.
“We grew stronger as the tournament went on and I thought the final against Mustangs was the best we played particularly with how we defended and pressed from the front. It’s given us a great start to this season and some momentum to build off of heading into their last year in youth soccer. We have a lot to learn still as we try to send the girls off as ready as possible for college soccer,” said Spooner.
Head Coach Louis Hunt led his 2000 ECNL team to their second straight Surf Cup title scoring 11 goals and conceding only one throughout the tournament. The girls posted a 2-0 final victory over rival club So Cal Blues Dodge in the finals.
“I’m proud of the girls for their attitude, hard work and application over the weekend,” said Hunt. “We only practiced for 2 weeks prior to the tournament since taking time off after last season’s ECNL playoffs, but the players applied the training concepts in the games really well and deserved to win Surf Cup.”
Surf Boys 1999 Academy Select closed out the tournament battling from a 2-0 deficit in the final to defeat Heat FC from Nevada 3-2.
Head coach Oliver Petersen said, “Our team has been together for only two months and we were joined by 4 guest players for this year’s Surf Cup. We went undefeated. The semifinal was a tough game and we won 1-0. Our final match against Heat — I believe they are ranked #1 in Nevada and about 35th in the Nation — was another tough match. We are not ranked inside the top 500.”
“In the Surf Cup Black final, Heat led 2-0 for the first 20 minutes and were totally dominating us on the soccer field. We changed some things around — switching from our normal 4:2:3:1 to 3:4:1:2 and put some players in less familiar positions — taking risks because we had nothing to lose, and we then scored 3 times inside the last 20 minutes,” said Petersen. “I’m very proud of the boys. Every single player contributed to the success of the team. They richly deserve the success they enjoyed this weekend and the subsequent college interest that the Surf Cup win is getting them.”
Peterson coaches the SD Surf SC 1999s Boys U18s and is committed to helping his players play at the college level. His inspiration for coaching youth soccer comes from his desire to help kids use soccer for personal development on and off the field.
The 2001 Surf Academy team were the fourth and final Surf team crowned champions over the weekend. Head coach Melvin Cuellar led the U16 side past San Jose Earthquakes to win the group, setting up an epic semifinal battle with West Coast FC. Surf SC punched their ticket to the final with a 3-2 win and closed out the tournament with a 2-0 victory over the highly competitive La Premier FC in the final to claim the championship.
“I’m very proud of the way our team stayed consistent throughout the whole tournament,” said coach Cuellar. “The competition was top-notch and it’s great to play teams from all over the country. We’re still coming together as a team and I’m excited to see how this team progresses this season.”
San Diego Surf SC seeks to continue its reign of earning championships in youth soccer as the younger squads gear up for their run at Surf Cup next weekend. Matches will kick off on Saturday with more youth soccer champions crowned on Monday afternoon.
Congratulations to Surf SC’s winning teams and best of luck to all teams traveling to San Diego this upcoming weekend!
